Dear Editor,
A section of the media report on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, said the “Integrity Commission does not intend to pursue declaration of assets and liabilities from public officials which should have been made before 2018.” This report is very telling and forces you to question the integrity of the Integrity Commission.
This is not the first time the integrity of the Integrity Commission has come into question. In March this year, when the Integrity Commission Chairman, Kumar Doraisami, was sworn in to his position, he said he was never interested in the position until, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo called him and then he decided to take up the offer. So what were Guyanese people supposed to think?
Now we read that there will be no declaration of assets of public officials for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Why is Doraisami not pushing for the declaration of assets to be made to the Integrity Commission for those three years?
It seems as if Doraisami is making excuses for public officials, especially the coalition Government Ministers, when he talks about there not being an Integrity Commission Secretariat in place from 2015. But who disbanded the Secretariat? It was the coalition Government who fired all the people working at the Secretariat.
Even so, Doraisami has a responsibility to the Guyanese people. There is nothing preventing him from requesting that all public officials make their declarations to the Integrity Commission for 2015 straight through to 2018. He has the power to do so.
If Doraisami fails to act, it would be an indictment on his own integrity.
Regards,
Attiya Baksh
